Manitoba Multifaith Council is an association of faith communities, representatives of faith communities, and individuals from various faith traditions throughout Manitoba. For more information see our annual report.

The Purpose of the Manitoba Multifaith Council (MMC)“To operate exclusively as a charitable organization for the purpose of promoting interfaith and multifaith dialogue and understanding, to educate the public about world religions and to promote collaboration amongst people of faith in order to foster the well being of the community as a whole.” From Articles of Incorporation in Manitoba

Name Change, Incorporation and Charitable Organization Status
As a follow-up to the resolution passed at the AGM, the Manitoba Interfaith Council (MIC) has been renamed, and registered as the Manitoba Multifaith Council (MMC) to be distinguished from Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council (MIIC), and to more fully reflect the greater diversity which makes up the Province of Manitoba in our present day.

* An inclusive and comprehensive source of information for those who want to learn more about world religions
* A source of accurate dates and descriptions of approx 430 events, including observances from 14 world religions. * A beautiful collection of expressive original visual art and stunning photography.

Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints joined with community leaders in Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada, on Saturday, December 3, 2016, to break ground for a new temple. This will be the ninth temple in Canada.Read more

Digging the first shovelful of dirt are (from left to right) Yvonne and Allan Robison; Sister Lynda and Elder Larry Wilson; Terry Duguid, Member of Parliament, Winnipeg South; Janice Lukes, Councilor, South Winnipeg, St. Norbert Ward; and Belle Jarniewski, president of the Manitoba Multifaith Council. The groundbreaking ceremony was for the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday, December 3, 2016.

Tickets available on Eventbrite in early January.
Last year’s event was sold out so reserve early!

Education, Religion and a New Canadian Pluralism*** NEW***
Presentation at MMC AGM, May 31, 2016 by Tony Tavares, Consultant, Diversity Education and International Languages Instruction, Curriculum Assessment Branch, Manitoba Education.Check out the presentation by clicking here

Statement of the Executive Board of Directors of the Manitoba Multifaith Council Regarding the Yazidi Genocide
Some four months after the declaration of genocide, Canada has a unique opportunity to take the lead among the international community to provide safe haven, care, aid and a new beginning for Yazidi survivors of genocide. Indeed, several members of the Board of the Manitoba Multifaith Council (MMC) have been actively engaged in helping to sponsor and resettle Yazidi refugees.

According the report issued by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner, They Came to Destroy: ISIS Crimes Against the Yazidis, issued on June 16, 2016, http://www.ohchr.org/…/HRCou…/CoISyria/A_HRC_32_CRP.2_en.pdf, IS “is committing genocide against the Yazidis and… has subjected every Yazidi woman, child or man that it has captured to the most horrific of atrocities.” The report has publicly cited the Yazidis’ faith as the basis for the attack of 3 August 2014 and its subsequent abuse of them.” The Commission urged international recognition of the genocide, and stated that more must be done to assure their protection, including the acceleration of asylum applications of Yazidi victims of genocide.

As a multifaith council, we feel a particular responsibility to stand together to emphasize that the Yazidis are being persecuted and massacred (as they have been for over 700 years) on the basis of faith alone. They have nowhere to go home to, no safe haven and must be segregated in refugee camps because they face danger from other refugees. Ironically, because of their segregation, entire UNHCR camps—some 25,000 Yazidis in Turkey alone—are easily identifiable. We call on Canada to respond to the UNHCR report, especially to sections 210, 212 and 213.

Several months have passed since Canada has recognized the genocide. Since then, only a handful of privately sponsored Yazidis have reached our shores. Many young women have committed suicide or mutilated themselves rather than be subjected to the sexual slavery and brutality of IS. It is time for Canada to respond.

Retired Lt.-Gen. Roméo Dallaire has often spoken of the failure of humanity to have heard the call of a beleaguered people. He recalled that while most nations agreed that something needed to be done in Rwanda, no one stepped forward. He famously asked, “Are all humans human? Or are some more human than others?” So appears to be the situation with the Yazidis today.

Who has remembered the ongoing suffering of the Yazidi and the documentation of atrocities in the UNCHR report?

As Canada looks ahead to 2020, hoping for a seat on the UN Security Council, a humanitarian response to the Yazidi genocide would likely be another jewel in the crown of Canada’s recent humanitarian achievements. Let history show that Canada once again displayed leadership.

STATEMENT BY THE MANITOBA MULTIFAITH COUNCILThe summer of 2016 has been a “summer of discontent” throughout much of the world, especially with respect to interreligious understanding.

Considerable shock and outrage has been expressed worldwide for the draconian behaviour of the French “fashion police” in the continental bikini/burkini affair. The burkini, a type of discreet swimwear worn by some Muslim women to preserve modesty, was banned in 30 French jurisdictions. Claiming the burkini breached the “respect of good morals and secularism,” a Muslim woman in Nice was fined and forced to publicly remove some of her clothing.

While French officials have stated the ban was a response to growing concerns about radical Islamic terrorism, the burkini is also worn by Ultra-Orthodox Jewish women for the same reasons of modesty as well as by those who are concerned about skin-protection. There may be more ridiculous incidents of religious and cultural ignorance in history: but not many. However, there is a fine line between ignorance and racism.

One needs not travel far to witness challenges nearer to home:

In September, a kirpan-wearing Sikh was denied service in a Winnipeg Dollarama store. As embarrassing as this must have been for the gentleman in question, the circumstances suggest misunderstanding rather than malevolence.

Not so recent events at the University of Alberta, the University of Lethbridge and most recently at the University of Calgary.

On the U of A campus, a poster was circulated, directly attacking the Sikh community and the iconic turban, employing obscenities in a clear incident of hate speech.

A faculty member of the University of Lethbridge employed a Facebook account not only to deny the Holocaust or Shoah, and to suggest antisemitic conspiracy theories behind 9/11, but also to utter threats of the most infamous kind against the Jewish community.

In the third incident, about 40 posters appeared at various locations at the University of Calgary, similar to the ones at the U of A, but this time attacking Muslims.

The Manitoba Multifaith Council has existed for well over half a century to promote interreligious understanding and the building of a just and inclusive society.

We would ask both the Universities of Alberta, Lethbridge and Calgary to state publicly, and nationally, what steps they will take to prevent such vile expressions of hate in the future. We ask this because the implications of these cases are far beyond provincial in scope, and to be prepared should such incidents manifest themselves in a Manitoba institution of higher learning.

To the business community of Manitoba, we offer our support in advancing interreligious understanding in the workplace.

Among our plans for the near future is the establishment of the Winnipeg Interfaith Business Initiative to encourage greater understanding of religious imperatives in the workplace.

Care for the Human Spirit in Times of Illness
PROGRAM: Spirituality, Illness and Health │Spiritual issues in the suffering related to illness│The Spiritual Care Visit: Listening, Empathy, and Communication│What you need to know about visiting in a health centre

A presentation made to Dr. Mohinder Dhillon. in honour of his service to the Manitoba Multifaith Council.
Left to right: Ray Harris, Dr. Mohinder Dhillon, Belle Jarniewski.

Statement of the Manitoba Multifaith Council on the Recent Tragedies
The Manitoba Multifaith Council joins the global chorus of horror and dismay at the recent waves of violence perpetrated by some accounts and to some perspectives attributable to the religious impulse, in the immolation of 19 Yazidi women by the forces of Daesh (IS) in early June and the shootings in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in the early hours of June 12. We lift up several foundational concerns that extend beyond the visceral revulsion provoked by such acts.

We acknowledge and confess that all too often in the course of human history religious communities of all stripes have betrayed the founding impulses of their communities. We pledge yet again to stand by the conviction, as stated in many of our religious traditions, that within Creation all human beings are made in the image of the Divine; and that consequently, the image of God in all humans implies that each person has “infinite value, equality and uniqueness.” (Rabbi Irving Greenberg).

We hold these convictions to be universal human values, regardless of race, religion, orientation, or nationality.

We call upon all Manitobans, whether people of faith or no faith; we call on people of good will everywhere to:

Resist superficial analysis of these tragedies and the religious implications of each;

To suspend judgement concerning motivations and meaning in the face of apparent meaningless;

To refrain from xenophobic suspicion of the other;

To pursue open dialogue amongst people of differing religious traditions and ideological positions;

To seek always and everywhere to be agents of reconciliation, instruments of peace and understanding in contrast to the demagogue urgings of those who would pervert religious faith or human ideals to the demonic ends of hatred and bigotry;

To embrace complexity in all aspects of the human adventure.

We urge the leaders of our province and our nation to recall the provisions of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which recognize the integrity and liberty of religious expression and to apply that recognition to all policies of our province and nation, whether domestic or global.

We remember, soberly and hopefully John Dunne’s conviction that “no (one) is an island,” and the wisdom of the late Rabbi Harry Joshua Stern that we will have “one world or no world.”

PRESS RELEASE- October 8, 2015
In recent weeks, The Manitoba Multifaith Council (MMC) has observed with increasing dismay the employment of xenophobia – most particularly Islamaphobia - as a political wedge issue in the current federal election campaign. We are deeply disturbed by the apparent support of Canadians from coast to coast to coast at suggestions of draconian legislative measures intended to further stoke the fears of some Canadians of their neighbours whose religion and religious symbols are unfamiliar to them. During the closing days of last week and over the weekend, we have seen not simply an escalation in virulent verbal attacks on Muslims, but two documented assaults on Muslim women.

In Montreal, a pregnant young Muslim woman was assaulted and knocked to the ground by two teenage males. In a Toronto mall, a second young woman was roughly handled by an adult male while in the presence of her two young daughters.

Manitoba Multifaith Council sees a direct link between these increasingly vicious attacks to last weekend's comments that risk employing religious symbolism and identity as wedge issues among Canadian voters. We call all political leaders to a higher level of political discourse.

Setting aside our common religious injunction in whatever form to “love our neighbour”, these elected officials and others are concerned only with dividing our neighbours.

To date, the Courts are having none of this; as religious leaders of many faiths, we concur with the courts and their interpretation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms for all Canadians.

MMC recognizes that it is beyond our competence – and beyond wisdom – to engage in the political arena in a partisan manner. But these are issues of human decency; of religious integrity; of religious liberty; of the security of persons.

MMC does not take sides on the merits or otherwise of any particular religious symbol, including the niquab.

MMC will stand up for our fellow citizens who have been subjected to abuse, and now to violence.

MMC deplores and condemns any and all violence and incendiary language committed on the basis of religious garb or symbols, and we commit to standing by our sisters and brothers of all faiths – and none.

MMC fears that such ignorant and intentionally cruel, cynical and divisive language may yet issue in death.

Heeding the Irish Statesman, Edmund Burke, we will not permit evil by doing nothing in the face of evil.

Manitoba Multifaith Council calls upon persons of good will of all faith groups and none to stand together for liberty and justice for all.

Manitoba Multifaith Council

What is MMC?

The Manitoba Multifaith Council (MMC) is a registered non-profit corporation founded in 1969 to afford faith communities a unified voice in speaking on matters of common concern.

As Manitoba becomes increasingly diverse, the group seeks to build the common good of the province by facilitating respect, understanding and cooperation among different faith groups. MMC recognizes and respects the differences among faith communities while celebrating and acting upon common values.Read the MMC Fact Sheet here

In what areas is MMC involved?

Education

Builds bridges of understanding between faith communities and within the broader society.

Provides the community with information and resources on world religions.